April 15, 2010 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
NorthWestern Energy Selects CURRENT Group’s Distribution Grid System
Optimization Solutions That Will Enable NorthWestern Energy to Minimize Feeder
Losses and Reduce Load Demand Through Voltage Reduction
CURRENT, a Leading Provider of Distribution Smart Grid Solutions, Has Been Selected by NorthWestern Energy to
Deliver Its CURRENT® Volt/VAR Control and Dynamic Voltage Optimization (DVO) Products That Will Help
NorthWestern Minimize Feeder Losses, Improve Power Factor and Reduce System Load Through Voltage Reduction
GERMANTOWN, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CURRENT Group has been selected by NorthWestern
Energy to deliver CURRENT‟s Distribution System Optimization products and services that will enable
NorthWestern Energy to reduce technical losses, optimize feeder voltage profiles and reduce system load
through advanced voltage optimization automation.
NorthWestern‟s project will roll-out later this year as part of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid
Demonstration Project. CURRENT will be providing its intelligent grid sensors and its OpenGrid™
software platform that features Volt/VAR Control and Dynamic Voltage Optimization using Dynamic
Measurement and Verification through a real-time power flow and grid state estimation engine, and will
also be providing project implementation, software installation and configuration along with certain
systems integration and development services.
“There has been significant focus on both transmission and „smart meters‟ over the last 24 months. Both
are clearly part of the evolution toward an efficient, reliable, clean electricity sector. Research is showing
that multiple billions of dollars of benefits are available today from investment in technology between the
sub-station and the meter. NorthWestern Energy and the Pacific Northwest Demonstration Project are
great testing beds to prove out this value that can be realized quickly, affordably and in a measurably
verifiable way,” said Tom Casey, CEO of CURRENT. “CURRENT is pleased to be selected by
NorthWestern Energy to deliver a market-ready hardware and an integrated real-time software analytics
solution that will allow NorthWestern to leverage their distribution grid to reduce energy consumption by 3
to 5 percent.”
“NorthWestern Energy is looking forward to working with CURRENT Group as we evaluate and
implement this pilot project. CURRENT is a leading provider with solutions that meet our business
requirements for affordability, ease of deployment, and who has demonstrated leadership in the
development of a measurement and verification system that will assist us in validating the benefits of this
project,” said NorthWestern Energy‟s Manager of Distribution Engineering, George Horvath.
NorthWestern Energy is participating in the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project designed
to expand upon existing electric infrastructure and test new smart grid technology with up to 60,000
customers in five states.
About CURRENT Group
CURRENT Group, LLC delivers innovative and industry-leading intelligent solutions that optimize the
distribution system and offer utilities new ways to monitor and manage the health of the grid. Through
CURRENT‟s distributed sensing, monitoring, and analytical technologies, utilities are better able to
understand, predict and respond to system disturbances and faults, identify where inefficiencies are, and
enable the smartest possible sourcing and distribution of power.
CURRENT‟s state-of-the-art technologies are being implemented by utilities around the globe and are
being utilized in the largest and most advanced demonstration projects in the world. CURRENT is
engaged in European Union-sponsored projects in partnership with Iberdrola, the world‟s 4th largest
electric utility, among others, to expand the use of Smart Grid technology in the European Union. This
year, CURRENT was selected for the second year in a row as one of GoingGreen East‟s Top 50 Private
GreenTech companies. In 2009 alone, CURRENT was honored by the World Economic Forum as a 2009
Technology Pioneer, selected by Venture Beat as one of the World‟s Top 10 Most Innovative Smart Grid
companies, and selected by Dow Jones as one of the Top 10 most Innovative Clean Technology
companies in Europe.
CURRENT is a private company founded in 2000 that is backed by leading investors including Liberty
Associated Partners, EnerTech Capital, Google, Inc., and Goldman Sachs & Co.
CURRENT is headquartered outside of Washington, DC, with offices throughout the United States and
Switzerland and Singapore, and has representation in Australia, France and the United Kingdom. For
more information, visit http://www.currentgroup.com.
About NorthWestern Energy
NorthWestern Energy is one of the largest providers of electricity and natural gas in the Upper Midwest
and Northwest, serving approximately 661,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. For
more information about NorthWestern Energy, visit our Web site at http://www.northwesternenergy.com/.
Contacts
CURRENT Group, LLC, USA
Vice President Global Marketing
Lori Reslock, +1 301-944-2824
Cell: +1 518-637-2179